Introductions: 100'
by Krissilla
Summary: The Z-fighters didn't wish for this. They wanted a young Vegeta that stopped whining about his receding hairline, not a young Vegeta that forgot about that hairline completely.
1. introthing

**Hello, nice to meet you all! This is my first fic I put on here, so excuse all the crappy stuff about it. It WILL be crappy, since the person that usually makes my stories read so much easier, is stuck in Africa without a laptop.  
(she's not really stuck, she's just on a safari for a long time. but saying she's stuck sounds so much more interesting =P)**

**longer summary: **In hindsight, Trunks and Goten realize that maybe, wishing Vegeta young again wasn't such a great idea. Especially not if Shenron was called during his favourite tv-show.  
Trunks and Goten's wish has been granted, but in a way that they didn't want. Yes, Vegeta is 16 again, but he also forgot everything that happened after that age. He remembers Frieza blowing up his home planet, but he doesn't remember how Frieza died.  
This wish was supposed to be a birthday present for Vegeta, that's why all the Z-fighters were present at that moment. The downside of all the people present, is that everyone can see first hand just how different Vegeta used to be.

**Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ. If I did, I'd have killed off Chichi after she first hit Goku with a frying pan. Or maybe after she gave birth to Goten, I like that kid.**

**Warnings: I don't think it actually has anything creepy written into it, but I have a creepy mind, so if it shows, tell me and I'll change the rating. **

* * *

Vegeta is completely disoriented when the bright light disperses. He was expecting to see Frieza there, ready with another ki-blast, so when he sees a group of non-fighters staring up at him doesn't know what to think. He keeps his arms up in a defensive stance though, just to be sure.  
Vegeta is starting to panic a bit when after a whole minute of staring, nobody has moved an inch.  
He scans the people quickly, singling out the person that looks the most powerful as the leader. Goku would probably be flattered if he knew about that train of thought, but as it is, he's just confused when Vegeta barks at him.

"What's the meaning of this, big guy? Where did Frieza go?"

A lot of eyebrows go up at that question, and Vegeta glares at them. Goku takes a step towards him, thinking it's a lame joke or something.

"Frieza's been dead for 20 years, Vegeta, he's probably rotting away in hell somewhere."

Vegeta frowns at that, and shakes his head. He glances at the sky, apparently looking for something. He doesn't drop his defensive stance though, even is he isn't paying full attention to the z-fighters.

"Is this another one of your mind games? It won't work Frieza!"

Goku is obviously thinking Vegeta has gone a little crazy, so he starts walking over to him. Of course, Vegeta notices it in a second, and he jumps back.

"No! Stay away from me!"

The panicked look he has on, makes everybody wonder. Just what is Vegeta thinking about Goku? Bulma doesn't like seeing Vegeta like this, so she pushes through the little crowd to stand in the front.

" 'Geta, what is wrong with you! You're acting like we're enemies!"

Vegeta doesn't show any sign of recognising Bulma, he just seems a bit more desperate when he's looking at her. Goku is the only one close enough to hear Vegeta mumbling something.

"He's throwing old ladies at me now too? He really has no respect for the saiyan ways. I'm going to kill him when I'm out of this!"

The old ladies comment makes Goku giggle, and he speaks softly enough so nobody but Vegeta can hear.

"Don't let Bulma hear you calling her an old lady, she'll get mad at you." Vegeta glares at Goku.

"So what! She'll probably change into some weird vixen that will try to kill me if I don't kill her first!"

Goku really doesn't understand what Vegeta's talking about, and it shows plainly in his demeanour.

"Look, Vegeta, I know this might not be what you wanted for your birthday, but that's no reason to act all crazy. You'll just have to wait until next year, and then we'll change you back, okay?"

It takes a while for Vegeta to figure out what is wrong with what Goku said.

"How did you know it's my birthday? Not even Radditz knows when it is." Goku shrugs in defeat, and turns to walk away.

"Fine, you keep acting like that, see if I care." When Goku doesn't really answer his question, Vegeta runs after him.

"Hey! I asked you something! How did you know!"

Goku doesn't react until Vegeta grabs his arm. He roughly pushes Vegeta away, making him fall to the ground.

"Drop the act already, Vegeta! It's not funny any more, and it's below the belt to bring my brother into this!" Vegeta shakes his head, uncomprehending.

"Radditz doesn't have any older brothers..."

The Z-fighters can feel Goku losing control over his ki, and they hurry to get to a safe place. But Vegeta doesn't react to the rising ki until it starts to destroy the environment. When it starts doing that, Vegeta starts to crawl backwards, with a look of horror blossoming on his face.  
"What the..."  
Goku looks at Vegeta coldly, slowly changing into super saiyan. The look on Vegeta's face would be hilarious, if it wasn't so disturbing to know he has no idea what Goku is.

"If you're not stopping it on your own, I'll just have to beat you out of it!"

Goku flies towards Vegeta at lightning speed, leaving Vegeta just enough time to cover his head and scream. Goku stops his fist mere inches from Vegeta's arms, taken aback by the scream.

"Did you just scream, Vegeta?"

The softness in Goku's voice makes Vegeta chance a look at him. Seeing that Goku won't be hitting him any time soon, Vegeta rolls to the side and jumps up. He doesn't bother to answer Goku, and he simply runs away towards the forest.  
At least, he tries to, but Goku saw it coming and teleports right in front of him. To stop Vegeta from running away again, Goku grabs his arms in an iron grip. He miscalculated the force he would need for controlling Vegeta, making them both fall over, with Goku landing on top of Vegeta.  
It's as if that fall triggered the power switch in Vegeta's brain, because he suddenly starts fighting back, his ki level rising exponentially.

"No! You won't be doing That to me! Not any more!"

Vegeta keeps yelling those sorts of things at Goku, all the while trying to get him off but failing. Soon he turns super saiyan too, but he doesn't seem to notice it in his blind panic. Goku fails to keep up with the speed of Vegeta's rising power level, resulting in Vegeta turning the tables and ending up on top of Goku. Vegeta starts hitting Goku with all his might, his power level still rising and rising.

"Never again! Never! NEVER!"

Vegeta would probably have continued hitting and screaming if it wasn't for Trunks knocking his father out cold with a hit to his neck. Vegeta slumps over onto Goku, all his ki dissipating into the air. Goku let's go of his super saiyan state too, softly pushing Vegeta off of him. Trunks helps him up, and they stand side by side, staring down at Vegeta.  
Trunks is the first to break the silence.

"What was that all about?"

Goku shakes his head. "I have no idea, but I think that Vegeta wasn't playing. Maybe he really thinks he's 16, and back on Frieza's ship or something. Although that didn't really sound like Vegeta. Did you hear him scream? There's no way Vegeta would do that."

Trunks nods, thinking it all over. "He still has his power though, even if he doesn't remember it. What if he starts attacking everyone because he thinks we're a threat? Nobody would be able to take him on, I mean, even you couldn't!"

The silence returns for a while, until Goku sighs. "I'll take him to some abandoned place where he can't harm innocent people. Maybe if it's just the two of us, he'll come to his senses."

Trunks looks at Goku in surprise. "What if he goes berserk again? Nobody would be there to stop him."

Goku grins at Trunks. "But I was unprepared this time! Even if he still has all his power, my power trumps his any day! Just tell Bulma not to worry, I'll bring him back safe and sound."

With a reassuring grin, Goku slings Vegeta over his shoulder and teleports away.

* * *

Waking up is a hazardous thing for Vegeta. He never knows where he'll be, since Frieza thinks it's funny to move him around when he's sleeping.

Most of the time, Frieza drops him in someone else his room, resulting in Vegeta being kicked out of the room rather forcefully.  
Not a fun way to wake up, that's for sure. Even when Frieza hasn't played that trick on him, Vegeta is woken up with a shout and a kick to the stomach.

Why? No reason other than because it is older Vegeta had learned to sleep lightly and to wake up when something changed in his environment, but this 16 year old Vegeta doesn't have that skill yet.  
So when Vegeta wakes up on his own, with no-one there to kick him around, he feels highly disoriented once again.

Vegeta sneaks around the bedroom he's in, to look out of the window. He's in the middle of a forest, with his window looking out at a small clearing. On the other side of the clearing, Goku is chopping up a tree for firewood.  
Mesmerized by the view, Vegeta can't help but to keep staring. Eventually, Goku notices, and waves at him.  
With a soft yelp, Vegeta ducks beneath the windowsill, expecting to have Goku on his back for sleeping so late.  
All he hears is Goku's laugh and the sound of chopping wood. After a while, Vegeta slinks out the room to find a way out.

He's in a cosy little house, with 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and a large living area. The only door that leads outside is on the side of the clearing, so Vegeta opts to climb out of a window instead.  
He starts wandering around the forest in a leisurely way, keeping his eyes and ears open for a sign of Goku coming after him. Vegeta thinks about running off as fast as he can, but he decides to take his head is still woozy from the hit he took yesterday, so it's better to save his energy for whatever they'll throw at him.

Vegeta thinks about 2 hours have passed before he hears Goku closing in on him. Vegeta drops into fighting stance, ready for whatever the man wants to do, and waits for Goku to show himself.  
He doesn't have to wait long, and while Vegeta doesn't know what he was expecting, it certainly wasn't Goku walking over with a dead bear over his shoulder.

"Hey, Vegeta! I caught us some food. Want to help me skin it?"

Goku's jovial smile takes Vegeta completely by surprise.

"Who the hell are you? You're always acting like I'm your best friend or something, and I have no idea whatsoever about who you are."

Goku's smile turns a bit sad at that. "So you really don't remember anything from the past 20 years?"

Vegeta pulls a face that radiates his thoughts; what the hell is that guy talking about? With a sigh, Goku turns around.

"I'm Goku, although you always called me Kakarot. Come along, I'll tell you about everything while we're cooking."

During the skinning and cooking of the giant bear, Vegeta stays twitchy and distrusting of Goku. Goku pretends he doesn't see, and keeps talking about how him and Vegeta met.  
He neglects to tell Vegeta about Radditz' death, because he figured they were close. When Goku tells about how Vegeta killed Nappa, the boy gives a wry laugh.

"Hah! I didn't kill him because he was weak, but because he was a backstabbing traitor to all that is saiyan!"

He stops laughing after that. "At least, I think I did. The Vegeta you're describing doesn't sound like me at all!"

With a frown, Vegeta starts working on the meat again. When he doesn't say anything else, Goku starts telling about Namek.

"I wasn't there at the start, but Bulma and Gohan were."  
"Who are they?"  
"Your wife and my son."

Vegeta frowns, but motions for Goku to continue. "Anyway, they were searching for the dragon balls, So were you, and so was Frieza. Bulma fell in love with you when she first saw you, but then you opened your mouth and she hated you for being a bastard. Then there was an all out battle against some dancing guys, our team winning of course. You helped us out, even if you weren't actually on our team.  
After that you took on Frieza, failed, healed up, took him on again, won, Frieza transformed into his second form, you died, I came in, I went all super saiyan on his ass, you came back to life, ran to planet earth – against your will I might add – I killed Frieza, and Namek exploded."

Goku expected a reaction out of Vegeta, but when he doesn't get any, he looks over to him. Vegeta is looking at him as if he's crazy. When nobody moves or looks away for a while, Vegeta starts asking.

"You killed Frieza?" Goku nods with a grin.

"But I overpowered you yesterday." Goku shrugs.

"I didn't expect you to go all crazy on me. You never freaked out during a simple spar before." Vegeta gives him another one of those 'are-you-insane'-looks.

"THAT was a simple spar? You came at me with all your power!" Goku has the authenticity to smirk at that comment.

"That wasn't all my power, that was the first level." With a raised eyebrow, Vegeta turns back to the cooking meat.

"I could practically feel the power radiating off you, there's no way there are other levels."

Goku laughs at him, and throws some wood on the fire. They didn't bother to go inside, since the weather is pretty nice, so they are sitting outside next to a camp fire. The night is coming up, so the fire is as much for light as it is for cooking right now.

"You went to level 2 yesterday, didn't you notice?" An incomprehensible noise comes from Vegeta, showing his disbelief.

"I was too preoccupied with getting you off of me, excuse me for not paying attention."

"Why was that, any way? You never had any problems with grappling before." Unbelievingly, Vegeta glares at Goku.

"Then I'm not the Vegeta you know, obviously. There's no way I'd let a lowlife like you do something like that to me without a fight."

Goku feels like laughing at the similarity between this Vegeta and what the old Vegeta always called him. But then the second part of the sentence breaks through to him.

"Something like what?"

The old Vegeta would yell at him for being ignorant or something, but the young Vegeta simply looks away. His demeanour changed from slightly uneasy to highly uncomfortable.

"You don't need to tell me, I just want to know what I did to make you panic so I won't do it again."

Vegeta makes a pained face, before shaking his head and looking back at Goku. "What happened after Frieza died?"

With that, most conversation is over. And except for a few comments from Vegeta here and there, Goku does all the talking for the rest of the night. When Goku's done with the Cell-story, They decide to call it a day and go to bed.

* * *

At the break of dawn, Goku wakes up. Way earlier than he's used to, but he can't put his finger on what woke him up.  
Since he's awake anyway, Goku figures he might as well get up and take a bath. It's when he opens his door to step out of his room, that Goku notices what woke him up.

Vegeta is trashing and moaning in his sleep. Guessing Vegeta is having a nightmare, Goku goes to his room to wake him up.  
He's looking panicked, even in his sleep, so Goku changes to super saiyan just to be sure. After that, he shakes Vegeta awake.

Goku was right in his suspicion to change into super before waking him up, because as soon as Vegeta's eyes are open, he flies at Goku. Vegeta's ki-level starts rising again, but this time, Goku is ready for him. Goku matches Vegeta's power step by step, always holding onto Vegeta's fists as he tries to get loose.

When Vegeta turns super saiyan 2, Goku thinks he'll stop fighting soon, since his power doesn't go any higher than this. He's in for a surprise though, because Vegeta starts fighting harder and harder, eventually destroying the house with the amount of power the two are exuding.  
The exploding house doesn't deter Vegeta's rising ki though, and soon after, he actually turns super saiyan 3. Goku is still holding onto his hands, even though it's starting to become very hard to keep Vegeta under control.

Slowly, Vegeta starts slowing down, until he falls to his knees in front of Goku. As soon as Vegeta stops fighting, Goku let's him go. As soon as his hands are free again, Vegeta hides his face in them. It takes a minute for Goku to figure out that Vegeta is actually crying.

The realisation is so surreal, that Goku freezes up. A loud, angry Vegeta? That's easy to deal with. A proud and distrusting Vegeta? It's within the acceptable borders. But a crying, vulnerable Vegeta? How is that even possible?

Vegeta never broke down like this before, not even when he blew himself up to save the world. Goku thinks that letting go of his super saiyan form might help, be he doesn't dare to do that until Vegeta's back to normal too. Goku mentally slaps himself in the face.

"Hey, Vegeta, cheer up and look at yourself. You're super saiyan 3! This is the first time I ever saw you do that!"

Vegeta glares up at Goku with red-rimmed eyes. "What's the point if I can't win?"

Vegeta completely believes Goku has an answer to that, because he keeps staring at Goku. Goku laughs nervously and pulls a hand through his hair.

"aaaah... intimidation?"

Vegeta huffs and pulls himself together, standing up. "That's actually a very valid reason, if I could do it without the fearing for my life."

Goku grins happily, relieved to have a semblance of the old, sarcastic Vegeta back. "Then we'll just have to train to get you there without the craziness!"

Vegeta glares at Goku, and yells at him in his old angry-Vegeta voice. "Who said anything about crazy, you buffoon!"

The rest of the day is spend in a friendly silence, while Goku and Vegeta work together to build a new house. Goku an't help but notice the way Vegeta smiles every now and then, so unlike how he used to be. Or rather, how Vegeta will be in 30 years time. The entire idea starts to give Goku a headache, so he just lets it drop.

That evening, they are sitting around the camp fire, and Goku continues their life story where he left off; at Buu. When he gets to the part where Vegeta let Babidi take over his mind to gain more power, Vegeta glares at the ground.

"I don't get it. How could I ever give up on the saiyan ways so completely?" Goku doesn't know what he's talking about, so he asks Vegeta for some clarification.

"Saiyans are a proud people, as you've probably noticed. For me to use the possibility to gain more power without doing anything for it, is one of the most despicable things to do. It's like me saying I'll never be strong enough without some third party's help. Where did my pride run off to? Whatever could have broken my spirit so thoroughly?"

Vegeta obviously expects Goku to know all the answers, so Goku shakes his head.

"You were always like that though. The first time I met you was when you were trying to get the dragon balls so you could wish for immortality. So if you say something happened, it must have been before you even came to earth, and you never told me anything about your life with Frieza, except for some random facts here and there. Like how he always called you monkey and you hated it."

Vegeta makes a face at that. "God, I hated that name. I'm married right? And the woman's not pregnant any more or something?"

"I don't think so, why?" Vegeta stands up with a slight smile.

"Because that means I'm together with her for more than just her genes, which means I probably told her stuff about my past that I didn't tell you. Let's go to her right now!" Goku grins up at Vegeta, and jumps up to lead the way home.

They arrive at Capsule Corp. after an hour of flight. It's Trunks that opens the front door, and he's delighted to see Vegeta.

"Dad! You got your memories back already?"

Trunks is so overly happy that Vegeta expected him to jump at him for a hug, but when he doesn't, Vegeta takes the first step. Trunks' eyes are big as saucers when he looks at Goku over Vegeta's shoulder. When Vegeta let's go of Trunks, and holds him at arms length to look him over, Trunks speaks up.

"What happened to you?" Vegeta frowns and looks him in the eye.

"What? I just hugged you because you looked like you wanted it." With raised eyebrows, Trunks looks over to Goku again.

"What did you do to him? He's like a different person!" Vegeta's frown deepens, and he steps back from Trunks.

"Goku told me I was a bit of a bastard, but was I really that bad? I never hugged my own son?"

Both Goku and Trunks become a bit uneasy, and this time, it's Goku's time to explain.

"You weren't that big a fan of physical contact with people, but you showed you're love in some way or another. You were not a bad father or anything, just a bit... distant." Vegeta huffs and puts his hands in his pockets.

"Let's go find the woman, I need some explanations." Trunks smiles a bit.

"Still calling her woman, huh? At least that didn't change."

Trunks leads the way to the sitting room, and tells his guests to wait while he goes to wake up Bulma. Vegeta starts looking at the pictures covering the wall. There's one with him and the Z-fighters, where he's standing off to the side with a glare. Vegeta runs a hand through his hairline.

"Wow, I'm balding in that picture. Never thought that would happen to me, so that's why you guys wished me young again, right? I really look like an anti-social prick here, though. "

He says the last thing with a sad grimace on his mouth, so Goku just grunts in response. After a little while, Trunks returns, saying that Bulma is getting dressed. He enters just when Vegeta takes down a picture of him and Bulma on a party, when they just got married.

"This is Bulma?" Goku tells him it is, earning a wide grin from Vegeta. "I can see why I married her, she's hot!"

The comment is so out of character for Vegeta, that Trunks and Goku both break out in laughter. 15 minutes later, when Bulma enters the room, Trunks and Goku are still laughing, and Vegeta is glaring at them from the corner. She clears her throat, making Goku and Trunks pay attention to her. Goku immediately stops laughing, remembering how Vegeta reacted to her the first time.

"Vegeta, meet Bulma!" Hoping against all odds that Vegeta won't call her old to her face, he grins expectingly to Vegeta. The grin falters though, since Vegeta looks a bit... devastated, to state it nicely.

"That old lady is my wife? How old is she? 200?" With a mental slap to the face, Goku groans.

"She's 65." Vegeta raises his eyebrows.

"Oh... Humans age faster than we do then?" Feeling ignored, Bulma is seething in the doorway.

"If this is the only reason you came over in the middle of the night, you might as well leave again!" To empathize her point, she points to the door. Vegeta throws up his hands in defeat, and smiles at her.

"It just took me by surprise, milady, no harm intended." Seeing Vegeta smile sincerely for the first time in her life, leaves Bulma speechless. Trunks figures it out immediately, so he moves over to guide her to the couch.

"I know, mom, he's like a different guy. It's still Vegeta though, don't worry."

It takes a while to explain the full situation to Bulma, but she finally understands just what Vegeta wants. She feels bad about not knowing the answer.

"I'm sorry 'Geta, but you didn't talk to me all that much about your past. I kind of figured some stuff out by your scars and some random things you'd say when you got mad, but I don't have the whole story. And what I do know isn't an appropriate subject to talk about with your son around."

Vegeta thinks that any small thing could help him, so he suggests taking a walk in the gardens with her. Goku and Trunks stay behind, talking about nothing in particular.

After an hour, Bulma enters the room alone. "Goku? Can you go and follow Vegeta? Because he figured out what happened and it made him freak out. He flew off to god knows where, and I don't want him to be alone."

Goku immediately jumps up and listens to her, flying through the open widow. Trunks asks his mother about what he found out.

"Remember that metal plate I showed you? The one I dug out of his back after Namek? Apparently that was some kind of mind-control device, used for a special group of people. He didn't tell me anything more, but he didn't like the thought of being part of that group, so now I'm a bit worried."

The two stay silent while drinking their remaining tea. Eventually, Bulma goes back to bed, telling Trunks to go too. That night, She gets no sleep at all, with her head infested with theories about Vegeta's past. None of them are very positive, and it scares Bulma half to death.


	2. discoveries

**part 2! Hope you enjoy it^^**

**warnings: some physical violence and badmouthing of... people. I should probably raise the rating a bit, but fails at maintaining their site properly, so they can't blame me for mistakes I made and can't fix.**

**last time: **Vegeta figured out what happened to make him such an arse, and he runs off. Goku flies after him because Bulma told him to. (And because he has this hero-thing going on. Probably.)

* * *

Goku finally catches up to Vegeta when he stops at the clearing. Vegeta's just standing there, looking at the trees. When Goku stops next to him, Vegeta glances in his direction, but he doesn't say anything. After some time of the heavy silence, Goku speaks up.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"No."

"It'll make you feel better?" Vegeta huffs at that.

"No it won't." Goku sighs and sits down next to their dying fire from before.

"How do you know? Maybe it'll be relieving to get it off your chest?" With another huff, Vegeta sits down next to Goku.

"I don't even remember it happening, I can only imagine what it was like. Talking about 'might be's' won't amount to anything."

Goku's trying to think of something to say that will make Vegeta talk, but he can't think of anything, so he keeps quiet. Eventually, Vegeta stands up.

"I'm going to bed. Let's train tomorrow, if you're up for it?" Goku nods, and decides to go to sleep too.

* * *

Training the next day is horrendous, because Vegeta fails to attain his super saiyan state. He's getting really pissed off when lunch is drawing near, and when they call it quits for the morning, Vegeta curses magnificently.

"How did I ever get past that stupid block? It's freaking impossible!"

Goku runs a hand through his hair, thinking about what to say. He knows Vegeta went into outer space to become super saiyan, but he doesn't know exactly what triggered it.

"Maybe we should focus on getting your other skills back first, because that might trigger your memories or something." Vegeta drops on a tree stump with a groan.

"Nothing triggered a memory so far, and I don't know if I want to remember anything, any way."

Goku sits down next to Vegeta, on a patch of grass. After a while, Goku suddenly looks up at the sky, expecting something. Vegeta notices, and scans the sky.

"What are you looking at?"

"Piccolo is coming, I can feel him." That makes Vegeta look at him in surprise.

"How do you mean, you can _feel_ him?"

Goku explains how he can sense ki-signatures, and how Vegeta used to be able to. Vegeta's face lights up with happiness.

"Teach me! That is such a handy skill to have!" Goku grins and gets up.

"Close your eyes, and just feel the environment." Vegeta does what he tells him to, and in a couple of minutes, he grunts.

"I don't get it. I don't feel anything." He still hasn't opened his eyes, so when Piccolo speaks up, he literally jumps a metre in the air.

"You're doing it wrong. You're sending out your ki, and that interferes with the sensing." Vegeta looks at Piccolo distrustfully.

"A Namek? What's he doing on this planet?" Goku rolls his eyes, saying that he told him about Piccolo already.

"Oh, the ex-evil-god-wannabe?" Vegeta grins wickedly at Piccolo, making the man frown at him. The grin fades, and they simply stare each other down until Goku breaks the mood.

"Maybe if I power up, it'll be easier to sense me?" Vegeta grunts in reply, and closes his eyes again. Goku powers up to a bit below super saiyan, and surely, Vegeta can sense him moving around now.

"This is so awesome! But how are you able to do it all the time? I need to really focus on it." Goku grins at Vegeta's happiness.

"Training! Eventually it just becomes second nature."

Now that Vegeta understands the basics, they have a small lunch break with Piccolo, and he decides to join their training today. Piccolo even has the great idea of blindfolding Vegeta so he can learn the sensing faster. When he suggests the idea to Vegeta though, the man in question freezes up.

"No way." Goku slaps him lightly on the shoulder.

"Ah, come on Vegeta, you'll learn so much faster this way!"

Vegeta looks a bit betrayed when he takes a step back, but Goku doesn't realise it. Piccolo does, although he doesn't care enough to comment.

"I don't want to. I'm perfectly capable of learning this thing without some special measures in place." Goku is ready to give in, but Piccolo feels like being an arse.

"Just put the blindfold on."

"No!"

Piccolo starts to close in on Vegeta, making the man drop into fighting stance. Piccolo shares a look with Goku, and for once, Goku isn't too thick to understand the look. He nods at Piccolo and disappears in the forest. Vegeta sees him go, and he understands their plan: Piccolo is going to keep him busy, so that Goku can sneak up on him and force the freaking thing on him.

"We'll go easy on you if you put it on yourself, Vegeta."

With a feral growl, Vegeta flies at Piccolo. They exchange a couple of blows, with Vegeta being just a tad bit faster, making him seem to be winning. He didn't expect Goku to fire a ki-blast at his back though, and he flies off of Piccolo by the sheer force Goku put in it.

Vegeta can hear a loud eep from the forest, giving away Goku's location. He twists around in the air, so he can fire a volley at Goku. Having already perfected the sensing-skill, Goku can easily evade it, and he's lost within the forest once again.

This sequence of events keeps happening until Vegeta runs out of energy, and just stays down after one of Goku's blasts. He's lying there, panting, and after a while both Goku and Piccolo come to stand over him.

They're looking incredibly smug about Vegeta being down, so Vegeta tries to swipe them down with his leg. Piccolo saw it coming of course, but Goku falls flat on his face with a yelp. Vegeta laughs at him, until Piccolo pulls out the blindfold again, then he just goes cranky again.

"I don't want to wear the damn blindfold!" With Goku right next to him on the ground, Vegeta can't go anywhere when Piccolo closes in.

"We tried it your way, and it failed. Now we'll do it my way."

Goku has to physically restrain Vegeta, because he starts fighting again. The good thing about their previous training session, is that Vegeta simply can't hold out long enough to keep from being blindfolded. He doesn't stop struggling though, so Goku keeps holding him down.

"Calm down, Vegeta, what are you so afraid of?" Vegeta stops struggling at that, but he yells at Goku.

"Nothing at all!" Piccolo humphs, and Vegeta can hear him walking away.

"Then act like it. First training: defend against ki blasts."

Without waiting for Goku to release Vegeta so he can actually defend himself, Piccolo fires a blast at him. Goku jumps out of the way, pulling Vegeta with him.

"Hey! You could at least have told me you were starting!" When the coast is clear, Goku moves away from Vegeta, whose hands immediately go up to the blindfold. He's stopped by a blast to the head though.

"Don't take it off, defend!" With a grunt, Vegeta complies.

After an hour or two, Vegeta can finally deflect every singly blast either Goku or Piccolo send at him. Piccolo gives Vegeta the okay for taking of his blindfold, and he immediately rips it off. The surly glare Vegeta shoots at Piccolo, makes Goku want to rumple his hair. He wisely refrains of doing it, because who knows what Vegeta would do to him afterwards. With a goofy grin, Goku turns to Piccolo.

"Why are you here, Piccolo? I forgot to ask."

"Your wife sent me. She wants you home for dinner." Goku looks up at the setting sun, and groans.

"You couldn't have told me that earlier? She's going to kill me!" Hurriedly, Goku starts grabbing his stuff, telling Vegeta to do the same. Vegeta does it in a more leisurely way, complaining about having to clean up.

"She's married to a saiyan, isn't she used to you coming in late from training? It's in your blood to keep training till you drop, why does she want you to be different?" Goku completely ignores his comment, struggling with his boots. It's Piccolo that answers his question.

"She's human, and humans tend to be selfish."

Vegeta gives him a look that says 'isn't everyone selfish?', but he can't say anything any more, because Goku is ready. Without saying goodbye, the man takes off in flight, going fast enough for Vegeta to lose him before he even starts to follow. Piccolo speaks with a wry grin.

"Second training: follow Goku's ki-signature." Without further ado, Piccolo leaves too, in a completely different direction. Groaning, Vegeta starts of in the general direction of Goku's home.

"I don't even know which ki is Goku's, how am I supposed to find him?"

* * *

Eventually, Vegeta finds Goku. It was more by luck than actual skill though, since Vegeta heard a woman yelling and decided to check it out. The woman appears to be Goku's wife, and when Vegeta looks in through a window, he can see her throwing things at a subdued Goku. He doesn't even try to evade the flying plates. Not that Goku really feels them any way, but it's the thought that counts.

It takes Vegeta some time to get over the initial shock of seeing Goku this way, but when he does, it's like hell burst open in the Son Goku household. If the house hadn't been saiyan-proofed ever since Goten was born, it would have collapsed around the hole Vegeta blasts in the wall by flying in.

"What the fuck do you think your doing!"

Vegeta stands in front of Goku, facing off a stunned Chichi. Goku has neglected to tell her about Vegeta's 'situation', and since she hadn't wanted to come to the birthday party, she didn't know about him yet. Chichi's flabbergasted for at least 3 seconds before she gets over her surprise.

"This doesn't concern you, Vegeta, it's between me and my husband!" Vegeta's anger makes his ki whirl around him.

"Like hell this doesn't concern me, I'm the prince of all saiyans! If you want to abuse a saiyan, you'll have to go through me."

Chichi seems to find that a good rule, if her changing targets is anything to go by. She grabs another plate, and throws it at Vegeta while yelling.

"You come into my house, you tell me what to do, and you think I'll just listen to you! You, the epitome of the word asocial, are lecturing me on how to treat people? You fucking hypocrite!"

Vegeta doesn't move a muscle, except for blasting apart the flying plate. Chichi keeps yelling obscenities, all the while throwing stuff at Vegeta to no avail. Eventually, she runs out of things to throw, so she believes attacking Vegeta barehanded will make a good alternative.

That act is all the proof Vegeta needs to know the woman's insane. Who in their right mind, would attack an enraged saiyan without backup? He doesn't even have to use any power to intercept her first swing, and twist her arm around painfully.

"You seriously need some help."

The woman starts insulting the entire saiyan race now, and Vegeta gets fed up with it all. He only needs to pull her arm up to break it in 3 different places, and he would have done just that, if it wasn't for Goku interfering.

"Vegeta, let her go."

He speaks softly to Vegeta, and his voice is almost lost in all the noise Chichi is making. Unbelievingly, Vegeta looks at Goku. The man isn't looking back at him, his eyes cast down to the floor in shame.

"When I let her go, I'm leaving. And you're coming with me."

The way Vegeta bears himself, makes it almost impossible to ignore his command. Doesn't stop Goku from trying, even though he actually wants to leave.

"I can't just up and leave her, Vegeta..." The prince snorts at him.

"Why not?" With an indignant sigh, Goku looks up. It takes him a moment to answer, which makes Vegeta smirk.

"Because..." Vegeta interrupts him with a short laugh.

"Yeah, as I thought, you can't think of a single reason why you shouldn't walk out right now."

Frowning, Goku looks down again. He really can't think of a reason to stay, except for the fact that they've been married for so long. But when you think about it, that's not a very good reason to stay. All Goku knows, is that he simply doesn't want to leave Chichi all alone.

But she won't be all alone, Goten will still be here, and Goku is certain that Chichi loves the boy with all her heart. He'll keep her safe, that's for sure. With Goten here, Goku really doesn't need to stay.

The time it took for Goku to come to that realisation, is the time Goten needed enter the room and process the situation. He runs in, and pulls Vegeta away from Chichi with a growl.

"What are you doing to my mother!" With a surprised look, Vegeta easily lets go. His surprise turns into indignation soon though.

"You were here? And you didn't do anything?"

Completely furious, Vegeta pushes Goten of him. He wants to yell and rant at the boy, but words cannot describe the full betrayal Vegeta feels at this. It's not even about him, it's all about how Goku must have felt, being so thoroughly forsaken by his own flesh and blood. The silence seems to last an eternity, before Goten speaks up.

"It's always been like this, and it worked just fine! Nobody got hurt anyway, so it's not a big deal!"

Vegeta goes frigid at the sound of Goten's voice when he says that. It reminds him of someone else, but he can't put his finger on who it is. All he knows, it that Goten doesn't have the right to say something like that person did.

"You have no idea what you are talking about, brat." Vegeta turns around, with a look in Goku's direction.

"Kakarot, we're leaving."

Again, Vegeta uses that regal tone of voice that doesn't allow disobedience, so Goku listens to him this time. When they're outside, Chichi starts yelling at Goku to come back, and Goku falters. Vegeta stops him with a soft hand on his arm. When he speaks now, he sounds like a sad teenager, all trace of the royal prince practically gone.

"Just leave, Goku, it's the only thing that will ever change anything." With a sorrowful feeling in his stomach, Goku nods and flies off. Vegeta follows after him with one last glare at the house.

* * *

Goku doesn't seem to know where to go, because he is just flying in a random direction. Vegeta knows he's not going to their clearing, because that's more to the south. He doesn't think Goku has another one of those randomly placed houses somewhere, so he is starting to wonder where they are going.

Just when Vegeta decides to speed up to ask Goku about it, Goku slows down and finally stops. They're at a city with an abundant night-life, judging from all the people outside in the middle of the night. Goku starts walking somewhere in a brisk pace, and Vegeta almost has to jog to keep up with him.

"Where are we going?" Goku answers without a look in his direction.

"Getting a late night dinner at the club. It's the only one I know that still serves food at this hour."

Vegeta's stomach agrees with that plan, so he lets Goku lead the way. After 5 minutes, they arrive at a dance club, and Goku walks up to the doorman, completely ignoring the waiting queue. The doorman greets Goku with a grin and a wave, letting him in without a fuss. He does stop Vegeta though.

"Aren't you a bit young to go in, kid?" Goku puts an arm around him, laughing.

"We're just here for the food, Mike, don't mind his age." The doorman, who's apparently named Mike, shrugs it off, and let's them go through.

"Make sure he doesn't drink anything, okay?"

Goku's armis the only thing that prevents Vegeta from lashing out the man. When they're out of hearing range, Vegeta speaks his thoughts to Goku.

"He called me a kid! I cant just let that slide!" Normally, Goku would have laughed at that comment, but now he just smiles sadly.

"Don't bother, you really look like a kid now, you know." Vegeta humphs and pushes Goku's arm off.

"Then go get me a beer, to spite the guy."

3 hours later, they have finished of a table full of food and beer. Being a saiyan gives them a high tolerance of alcohol, but having a high tolerance doesn't mean you can't get drunk if you try. Goku certainly is trying.

By the time all the plates are cleaned of the table, Goku is getting quite intoxicated. He's drunk enough to tell Vegeta he's going to dance. Vegeta responds wiht a frown.

"You're in no condition to dance, idiot."

Goku starts whining about how he wants to have some fun, and how Vegeta should come dance too, since he's such a spoilsport. That makes Vegeta glare at him, telling him with a look how he wouldn't be caught dead on a dance floor.

"We're going home." With a surly look, Goku keeps whining.

"What's home any way..." With a fed up grumble, Vegeta grabs Goku by the shirt and pulls him out of the club.

"Home is wherever you want it to be, so suck it up and come along."


	3. lucky?

**I hope you like this chapter, because it didn't want to come out. It really didn't. I cursed the blasted thing and wrote it anyway. Good thing I did, the next part is much more fun to write ^^ Oh! and I wrote over 10.000 words now! I feel happy ^^**

**warning: **the usual. I still can't change the rating, because the site isn't cared for properly. Is there like a greenpeace for websites?

**last time: **Chichi was a bitch, and Vegeta got Goku out her clutches. Hurray! Goten wasn't happy about the way he did it though, poor Goku. Goku drank himself half to death afterwards. Sort of. Not at all actually, he just drank a bit too much, but I'm a dramaqueen sometimes.

* * *

Carrying a drunk Goku around after a day of rigid training is exhausting. Luckily the club isn't too far away from the clearing, not that it soothes Vegeta's nerves in the least.

Vegeta likes beer just as much as any other men, he just doesn't like the way it makes other men act like idiots. Vegeta never has a problem with that specific side effect, at least, he thinks he doesn't. It's not like Frieza wanted to share his extensive alcohol supply with the saiyans, so Vegeta actually has little experience with drinking and what it's effects are on him.

Frieza had no qualms about sharing the stuff with all the other officers, so Vegeta does have his fair share of encounters with drunk people. Tonight was actually the first time he had the chance to get completely wasted, but he had enough sense about him to keep his consummation down, readily expecting Goku to do some stupid shit.

Goku seems to like doing stupid things after all, and tonight is no exception. A drunk Goku tends to forget he needs to focus his ki to fly properly, so he also tends to fall from the sky a lot.

Vegeta needs to catch him every time, and that would be all right, if it didn't make Goku giggle uncontrollably. The third time it happens, Vegeta decides he'd rather carry Goku home than hear him giggling EVER again.

Goku is terribly adamant in his conviction of acting stupid though, since he starts singing – it's actually more like slurring than actual singing – some song about a farmer, his socks and his love of sheep. Vegeta blocks out Goku entirely at that, because that song is not something you want to remember later on.

Eventually, the two arrive at the clearing, and Vegeta drops Goku where he lands. With a bark at Goku to stay outside or be on the receiving end of a final flash, Vegeta goes inside and opens a capsule Bulma gave him.

Vegeta thanks the gods for an amazing woman like her, because in the capsule is much needed furniture. Goku might be an accomplished hut-creator, his carpenter-skills have a lot of room for improvement.

His idea of a bed consists of tying a bearskin between two walls. That's fine for camping and all, but Vegeta is simply not willing to live in a house with bearskins for a bed.

If Vegeta was under the impression a drunken Goku was bad, he clearly never met the hungover Goku. Where the drunken version at least resembles Goku in a way, the hungover version is the complete opposite of the normally nice Goku.

Vegeta is up at the break of dawn, opting to take a swim in the nearby river before doing anything productive with his day. He meets the hungover Goku for the first time when he leaves the house: the man is sitting with his back against the house, glaring at him.

Vegeta ignores him, not feeling up to the fight that will probably ensue should he not. Goku refuses to be ignored though, and he follows Vegeta to the river. The stalking starts to grate on Vegeta's nerves pretty quickly, and before he reaches the river, he turns on Goku.

"What!" Goku narrows his eyes a bit more, and responds in a low voice.

"It was cold outside." Vegeta crosses his arms with a huff.

"Should have thought of that before you drank yourself into a stupor, dimwit."

"You took my home away from me!" Goku starts to radiate anger, and a feeling of unease creeps up Vegeta's spine.

"You could hardly call it a real home..." Goku's fist clench in an attempt to drain off some energy, but he can't stop himself from yelling.

"It was all I had! Where am I supposed to go now, huh!"

Vegeta uncrosses his arms, but he keeps his hands in front of him. He doesn't know what he can expect from the other man, but an angry saiyan never bodes well. Vegeta almost gives in to the impulse to stay quiet and hope for Goku to calm down, but he knows Goku needs to get it all out of his system, so he has to react.

"You can stay here, right?"

"With you here? It's out of the question." Now it's Vegeta's turn to glare. He expected something of the sort, but not this plain rejection.

"You don't want me near? Fine, I'll leave. Make sure you don't accidentally kill yourself, idiot."

Vegeta thought Goku would follow him when he lifts off, but he thought wrong. Goku simply stares at him until he's out of sight, making no move to stop him.

* * *

It's 3 days later before Vegeta hears from Goku. After their fight, Vegeta went to Bulma, and he has been staying there ever since. He's been training with Trunks in the gravity-room, but he still can't figure out how to change into super saiyan.

Today, they decided to train outside, and Vegeta only just starts to grasp how powerful he really is. Finding out you can move faster than you can see will trigger that epiphany in people.

He's glad he can sense ki now, or Trunks would have pounded him down a whole lot faster than he currently does. In his defence, Trunks can't beat him unless he goes super, and Vegeta believes that to be cheating. Not that he can do anything but complain about it. On one of those complaining rants, Goku shows up, nervously running a hand through his hair.

"Hi, Vegeta. Trunks."

Vegeta grunts in reply, and keeps sparring with Trunks. It makes the boy confused enough to let Vegeta beat him for once. Vegeta helps him back up, completely ignoring Goku's presence. He can sense Goku's ki now though, so he can feel him deflating, and turning to move. It makes him feel guilty, so he calls out to him.

"Why are you here, Goku." Okay, Vegeta speaks a little too clipped to actually show his guilt, but anyone that knows him well can also make out that he's feeling bad about it. If he didn't feel bad, he wouldn't have called out any way.

"I wanted to talk to you... in private..." With a huff, Vegeta turns to look at him. Vegeta almost expected him to look bedraggled and broken, but he looks just fine.

"I'll see you later, Trunks. Stop transforming, it's cheating."

"pffft! Learn to change too, makes it more fun!" With a sarcastic laugh at Trunks, Vegeta flies off with Goku to their clearing. As soon as Vegeta's feet touch the ground, he lashes out at Goku.

"What is so important that you needed to talk to me in private?" With his hands in his pockets and a general downcast look about him, Goku wanders closer to Vegeta.

"I... wanted to apologize for my behaviour. I know you were only trying to be a good guy, and I shouldn't have made you leave." Goku stays quiet for a moment, thinking his words over. Vegeta can only just keep his patience with the man.

"It was just too much to handle at once but..." Goku shakes his head, as if casting out a thought.

"I guess I should say thank you, even if I'm not all that grateful yet." Vegeta waits until Goku looks at him, before answering.

"Good enough. Anything else you want to talk about? Because that really didn't require much privacy, Goku." Goku looks away again with a frown.

"You're always calling me Goku nowadays, but when we were at my... Chichi's place, you called me Kakarot. Why?" Vegeta looks around the clearing a bit distracted.

"What that brat was saying, it sounded just like what..." He glances at Goku, wondering if he should really tell him. Vegeta shrugs off his doubts, and continues.

"I said something of the sort to Radditz, when he interfered." Goku starts evading his eyes again at the mention of Radditz.

"What did he interfere in?" Vegeta sighs. He really doesn't want to tell Goku the whole truth, so he settles for a short version.

"Saiyan politics. Radditz was right though, to interfere. He made everything work out, at least for a little while. He probably got demoted and send on suicidal missions after that, I don't remember anything yet."

Vegeta looks expectantly at Goku, waiting for his knowledge on Radditz. Goku notices, but he evades the unasked question.

"What does that have to do with you calling me Kakarot?" Vegeta shrugs.

"I don't know. Every time I think about Radditz, I feel obliged to remind you that you're his little brother." With a short laugh, Goku looks up at him.

"That's why you always called me Kakarot? That's an eye-opener."

"I think that's the reason, yes. I haven't got a clue why though."

Goku thinks 'I do', but he doesn't feel up to telling Vegeta about Radditz yet. He probably should, but he doesn't want to loose his only friend yet. After some time of companionable silence, Vegeta asks a quiet question.

"Was she always like that?" Goku seems to shrink in on himself before answering.

"Not really. Before the cell games, she was a loving woman. Sure, she had some anger management problems, but that's why I fell in love with her really. But when I died and came back after so long, she had changed." Goku sighs heavily, before laughing nervously.

"I don't think anybody else noticed the change, so maybe I was imagining things or something." Goku ruffles his hair with another nervous chuckle.

"I told Krillin once, but he said I was overreacting, and that if I didn't love Chichi any more, I should just say so instead of telling lies."

"Who's Krillin?"

The look on Vegeta's face is pretty murderous, so Goku's ready to tell him off, but before he can, Goku notices the ki coming towards them. Talking about bad timing, it's Krillin.

"Hey Goku! What are you doing just standing there?" The look Goku has on tells Vegeta who the guy is, and he turns his murderous gaze on Krillin. The man takes an awkward step back when he notices.

"Oh, hi Vegeta... Please don't kill me... I'm sure I didn't mean to do whatever I did..." All the while, he keeps glancing at Goku to say something. When Goku doesn't do or say anything, Krillin softly asks him for help.

"Goku? Aren't you going to stop him again?" Goku frowns at that.

"What do you mean 'again'?" Krillin swallows heavily before squeaking out an answer. Vegeta is bad, but from what he heard, Goku will probably be just as bad.

"I saw what he did to Chichi and Goten, and you just let him..." Vegeta snaps at that, pulling Krillin closer by his collar.

"What was that! I didn't do anything to that deranged woman or that brat! I stopped her from hurting Goku, something none of you so called friends ever bothered to do! And I didn't even touch the boy!"

Krillin seems about ready to wet himself, and Goku pities him. He softly pries Vegeta's hand loose and puts Krillin on the ground. He keeps in him place with a firm hand on his shoulder though.

"Vegeta's telling the truth, and he certainly didn't do anything to Goten. What happened to him?" Krillin looks between the two men.

"I found them this morning, Chichi is pretty beaten up, and Goten is in Bulma's care now for his wounds. Chichi said it was all your and Vegeta's fault..." Vegeta huffs angrily.

"Like that woman knows truth from fantasy any more." Vegeta has an entire monologue in his head, but when he looks at Goku he refrains from reciting it. Goku looks pretty guilty, and Krillin notices it too.

"Did you do that to them, Goku?" Goku doesn't react, so Vegeta answers for him.

"Don't be ridiculous, Goku isn't capable of putting anyone in the hospital, especially not his own son." Krillin looks guilt-ridden at that.

"Yeah, you're right... But why would Chichi say so then?"

"tssk, Goku told you about it, but you didn't believe him. I did, and I got him out. She probably went all crazy on Goten after that and doesn't want to admit it." Krillin gasps at the accusation.

"She wouldn't! She loves the boy! And he's a strong fighter, she couldn't have hurt him that badly..." Vegeta mumbles something about unobservant midgets, and turns to Goku.

"Let's go to Bulma, and check how your son is doing."

Goku still feels like it is all his fault, but he's glad Vegeta makes the suggestion. Krillin feels like it's a good idea too, so he follows along. Somewhere along the way, Krillin tries to talk to Goku. Vegeta hears the first few words, and decides to hang back and not listen in.

"Goku? Did she really do all those things you once told me about?" Goku doesn't react, and simply keeps looking to the front.

"If Vegeta finds it good enough to put a stop to it, it probably is that bad huh... I'm sorry I didn't believe you... I'm a lousy friend to you, aren't I?" The apology does make Goku look at him.

"It's okay, you're not that bad..." They stay silent for a couple of minutes, until Goku says something to break the silence.

"I just hope Vegeta isn't right, and that it wasn't Chichi. If it was, it was all my fault, and I don't think I can live with that..." Vegeta thought the conversation was over, so he was close enough to hear that.

"Don't be stupid, Goku. Goten wanted to stay there, so it's his own fault." Krillin finds that offensive.

"You can't blame Goten's condition on himself, that's just cruel!" Vegeta huffs.

"He was cruel for 16 years, ignoring what his mother did. I can blame him all I want." Goku speeds up, not wanting to hear their discussion, and the two man need to put in some effort to keep up, making them shut up again.

* * *

When the trio arrives at the house, they are greeted by a distraught Gohan. He runs up to Goku as soon as he sets foot on the grass.

"Dad! Are you okay?" Goku grins, but it doesn't quite reach his eyes.

"Yeah, I guess, why?" Gohan hugs him tight, and keeps babbling.

"Mom is saying a lot of things, and I don't know what's real and what not. She says you did this to them, but Bulma says Goten was attacked with a knife, but mom denies that, and Goten's still out of it, but he'll be fine, and I didn't know where you are, and I thought maybe there was another threat and you went off to save the world or something." Gohan finally takes a breath, and he asks Goku what happened.

"I don't know... I wasn't home..." Gohan's a smart kid, so he knows Goku doesn't mean 'I was out of the house for a second'. He takes a step back to look at Goku.

"Where were you?" Goku pulls a hand through his hair, and looks away.

"I should probably tell you I left Chichi 3 days ago..." Gohan interrupts him.

"As in, divorced?" Goku nods and continues.

"She was pretty mad about it, so I didn't go back to see Goten either... This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't left..." Gohan sighs and hugs Goku again.

"Don't worry dad, it's not your fault. I'm actually glad you finally left her on your own. She's a great mom, but she's not a good wife for you."

Goku has the force the tears down. He didn't expect Gohan to understand him, since he didn't know about the last few years. Goten didn't understand, and he was there for the worst years.

Their father-son moment lasts until Bulma comes out of the house to talk to Gohan. She tells Goku and Vegeta to stay outside, because she's scared of what Chichi will do. Vegeta grumbles about it, and Goku just nods and sits down on the grass.

Krillin suggests that he goes inside to check up on the two, and see if Chichi makes some sense yet. When he's gone, Vegeta is free to stalk Bulma and Gohan to hear what they are talking about.

"Gohan, did Chichi ever hurt you or Goten?" Vegeta laughs silently. Bulma gets right to the point, doesn't she. Gohan doesn't find her attitude that funny though, he's flabbergasted.

"No, she never hurt us!" He puts the emphasis on us, so Bulma believes she hurt someone else. When she asks Gohan about it, he huffs.

"You know who." Bulma frowns in thought.

"Goku left her right?"

Gohan confirms that, and it makes Bulma mutter to herself. Without acknowledging Gohan's presence, she starts towards the house again. When she's out of hearing range, Gohan turns to Vegeta's hiding place.

"Are you a stalker now?"

Vegeta steps out with his hands raised. If Gohan thought he'd try to find an excuse, he thought wrong. Vegeta was stalking - although badly - so he won't deny it.

"You are so going to be ashamed of yourself when you get your memories back." Vegeta glares at Gohan.

"And why is that? I'm not doing anything unbecoming." That makes Gohan laugh.

"Really, the prince of all saiyans stalking a halfbreed and getting caught? You're going to lock yourself in for a year, at the least." Vegeta smirks at the man now.

"You call yourself halfbreed a lot?" With a huff, Gohan starts walking back to Goku.

"You're weirding me out, Vegeta."

With a laugh, Vegeta follows him back. After a couple of minutes of sitting on the grass with Goku, Krillin comes out again. He looks agitated about something, so Goku asks what's wrong.

"Chichi is wrong. In the 10 minutes I was there, she told 3 different stories of the same events. And she doesn't even realise she said something completely different before, and then she tries to make me think I got it wrong. It's giving me a headache."

Vegeta makes a lame joke about Krillin's head being too big for not having a headache, but nobody laughs about it. Vegeta mopes about it, until they hear someone yelling inside.

The men immediately rush in, even if Bulma told them not to, and they are greeted by a girl fight. Bulma is wrestling Chichi away from Goten's room, where the boy is leaning against the door frame.

"He is hurt! He doesn't know what he's saying! I didn't hurt him!" Bulma doesn't react to it, she just pushes her into Vegeta's arms.

"Keep her there, will you?" An evil grin spreads over Vegeta's mouth, but it is stopped by Bulma's next comment.

"Or better yet, do that choppy thing to knock her out."

Guess there will be no forceful containment on Vegeta's part, which was what he was looking forward to. Vegeta simply knocks her out, while Goten starts stumbling into the hallway. Goku is deadly quiet when he sees Goten coming straight at him, not knowing what to do.

With her hands free, Bulma can go to Goten. She tries to guide him back into the room, but he 's protesting.

"Just let me do something first, I'll be nice later." Bulma does keep supporting his weight a bit, but she doesn't try to get him back. Goten stumbles over to Goku, and then falls into his arms, crying softly.

"I'm so sorry dad, I shouldn't ..." The rest of his crying is muffled in Goku's gi as he hugs his son close.

* * *

**./AN: **I know it's a lame chapter ending. When my betareader is back, I'll go over the entire story to clean it up, and this will probably end a bit further into the story. I don't do it now because I really don't like writing this part. The next chappie will practically write itself, which is more fun than forcing this thing out.  
Oh yeah, you'll get an alert when I rewrite, and I don't want you to get a million alerts about 1 mistake that gets edited out, so I'll clean them all up at once. **./endAN**


	4. remembrance

**Chapter 4, hurray! It feels like all anyone does in this story is talk. Does that bother anyone? **

**warning: **Torture, kind of. Not the bloody kind, but the psychological warfare kind of torture. I upped the rating up to T now, since I don't think it's all that shocking. If I'm wrong, and you are offended and want me to make it M, let me know.

**last time: **Chichi showed us her bat-crazy side, and Goten now has a lifetime trauma.

* * *

Dinner is a quiet affair tonight in the briefs household, even though the Son family joined them. Minus Chichi of course, she was carted of to a mental facility after Goten cleared up everything that had happened.

Trunks is with Goten in his room, since the boy can't move around too much with all the pain medication in his system. Even if they're not actually at the table, they're still deadly quiet.

What are you supposed to say to a friend who's mother practically tried to kill him? And for the stupid reason of Goten standing up for Goku when Chichi started badmouthing him. Trunks has no idea what to say, because 'I'm sorry for what happened' doesn't quite cut it.

Bulma and Krillin don't know what to say to Goku either, after Vegeta pointed out what they had all ignored for years. They should have known Goku was downplaying it all, instead of overreacting.

Vegeta is giving everyone the silent treatment, pretending he's all alone at the table. Goku doesn't want to say anything because he's mad at Vegeta for being so colourful about it all. Maybe his shame has something to do with it too.

The only person that seems to really be bothered by all the silence is Gohan. But he doesn't know what to say either, so he keeps quiet until everyone is finished with dinner.

"So, are we going to talk about it, or are we going to pretend it never happened?" Vegeta huffs and gets up.

"I'm going to bed." Bulma jumps up too, stopping Vegeta.

"Oh! I have some pills to help you sleep. You've been having nightmares lately, right?"

Vegeta grunts in confirmation, and he takes the pills she offers him gladly. Maybe now he can simply wake up without having crazy dreams that he can't remember any way. Goku gets up when Vegeta has left.

"I'm going, too. I'll catch you guys later." Bulma stops him from leaving with a soft hand on his shoulder.

"You can stay in a guest room if you want. It's already getting late, and you're probably very tired, so just know you're welcome to stay."

Goku smiles at her, and Bulma takes this moment to leave the room to guide Goku to a room. Gohan is left all alone, until Trunks comes in to put away his and Goten's empty plates. Gohan draws his attention with a wave.

"Are you going to run off too?" Trunks grins up at him, oblivious to how everyone left already.

"I'm going to spend some time with Goten back in his room yes, but I'll hang out with you later if you want."

With a smile, Gohan accepts, and he seats himself in the sitting lounge. There's a movie on the television that he hasn't seen yet, so he keeps himself busy until Trunks comes back to play some card games with him. They don't talk about anything at all, but the silence is comforting enough for Gohan.

* * *

Waking up is always a hazardous thing for Vegeta, but this really trumps all the previous situations. Vegeta would prefer being kicked around over this any time. At least when he's kicked around, his mind gets jolted into awareness.

Now he just feels drugged, and he has to force his mind to think clearly. Then it starts making sense; Vegeta doesn't just feel drugged, he actually is. Why else would he feel so heavy and slow? Why else would he not be able to open his eyes?

Eventually, Vegeta can pry his eyes open by pure force of will. The room looks a blurry blue at first, until it focuses into white walls and a guy dressed in blue. It takes a second for Vegeta to recognise the man, but when he does, it has the same effect as getting kicked out of bed. It's only then that he notices the full extent of the situation he is in.

He's stripped naked, strapped face down on a cold metal table, with Frieza's crazy doctor standing over him. He tries to fight the bonds, but the drugs sap his strength. He growls mentally at the thin leather strips than can keep him down. If he had all his strength, he would snap them without problem, but now he has to keep fighting them to even get them to loosen.

Vegeta freezes when he hears the tell-tale laugh of Frieza behind him. He tries to twist around to face him, but he's stopped by a blazing fire running up his spine. Vegeta mentally curses his bloody tail for being so sensitive.

"Is the monkey awake already? That's too bad... I wanted you to wake up during the operation. Now that would be really funny, don't you think?"

Frieza's cheeky drawl makes Vegeta sick to his stomach. He knows exactly what operation Frieza is talking about. He wants to make Vegeta one of his 'elite club', a group of fighters that do Frieza's every bidding. Not because they're undeniable loyal to Frieza, hell no. Most of the Elite Club hate his guts, and would give anything to see him dead.

No, they listen to him because Frieza put them through the operation Vegeta is going through right now. He puts something on their spinal cord, and while it isn't really mind control, it sure as hell comes close.

According to Vegeta's inside man, that thing tortures you until you do exactly as Frieza says. And you can't get it out without the doctor; Vegeta's man is the living truth of that. Well, not exactly living proof, just proof. The man lacerated his own vertebra's trying to get the thing out.

Vegeta's determined to evade that particular fate, and he starts fighting with all his might against his bonds again. A short laugh escapes him when he wrenches one of his hands loose, but his joy is short-lived. Frieza grabs the back of his neck and pushes Vegeta into the table with bruising force.

"I knew you'd make it worth my time any way, little monkey." Frieza leans close to Vegeta's ear, to whisper something in a sickly sweet voice.

"I will enjoy our time together tremendously, princeling, just you wait." After that, Frieza leans back again, still keeping Vegeta crushed down.

"Galvin, do your thing."

The crazy doctor nods, and Vegeta can see him taking up a scalpel. He closes his eyes, trying to block it all out so he won't scream. The cut isn't something he can't handle, and neither is the insertion. It's when the thing connects with his nerves that the pain becomes too much to handle, and Vegeta screams out. His screams can't block Frieza's disturbed laugh out completely.

* * *

Vegeta is still screaming when he wakes up to Bulma shaking him. He has a ki-blast ready to shove at her before he actually recognises her.

"God, woman, don't do that!" Vegeta lets the ki dissipate, and runs a hand over his face. Bulma tentatively touches his shoulder.

"Are you okay 'Geta?"

Vegeta shrinks away from her touch, and moves to sit on the edge of the bed, back towards Bulma. He doesn't see Trunks standing in the doorway.

"Don't call me that. I don't know you, and it's disturbing to notice how you do know me."

"But you do know me..." Vegeta growls lowly, getting aggravated by her sad tone.

"Not like a husband. I don't even know enough about you to call you a good friend."

That makes Bulma keep quiet. After all, hearing the love of your life saying something like that is quite shocking. With a sigh, Vegeta gets dressed.

"I'm off training, I don't know when I'll be back." When he's done getting dressed, he turns around to a timid looking Trunks.

"Want me to join you, dad?" Vegeta closes his eyes at that. He honestly likes the boy, and he knows his next words will hurt him.

"I'm not your father. As long as I don't remember anything, I really am not your father. I'd be lying if I said otherwise."

Vegeta was right, the look on Trunks face really is devastating. With eyes lowered to the ground, Vegeta strides out of the room and can just avoid bumping into Goku.

"What is this! Is my room the new gathering place for you people?"

After that outburst, Vegeta rushes out of the house, leaving Goku to pick up the pieces.

Vegeta is taking a swim in the river near their clearing, when Goku finally finds him. It didn't take all that long to actually find him though, it's the damage-control he had to do that took up most of the time.

"You've gotten good at hiding your ki, Vegeta!"

Goku is pretty good at hiding his ki himself, if Vegeta's reaction is anything to go by. He tries to whirl around in the water, but ends up half drowning instead. He manages to pull himself out on his own though, but he's pretty pissed off at Goku.

"Maybe I was hiding my ki because I didn't want to be bothered, Goku. Did you think of that?" Goku shrugs it off, and follows Vegeta to the house.

"You really went overboard this morning, with Bulma and Trunks." Vegeta only huffs in reaction.

"I don't understand why. You didn't have any problems with them before now. What changed?" Vegeta shakes his head, meaning he doesn't want to talk about it.

"Look, I understand there are things you don't want to talk about, and normally I wouldn't bother you about it. But you hurt them pretty bad and I want to know why." When Vegeta still doesn't answer, Goku grabs his arms and pushes him against a tree.

"Talk to me, Vegeta!"

The usual glare is there for only a second, before the anguish breaks through. It's not like Vegeta is on the verge of crying, but on any other man, the expression he's sporting would be the prelude of a major breakdown. Since he's Vegeta, he yells instead of letting any tears fall.

"I remembered what Frieza did to me, that's what's changed! I could handle the beatings, and even the drugs he used to screw with my mind, but the freak chipped me! Do you know what that bloody chip does? It freaking tortures you every time you disobey Frieza's command! I can take punishment, but constant torture? I saw one of the strongest men I know kill himself because he couldn't take it any more!"

Vegeta takes a few large breaths of air, which helps him regain a bit of composure. When he speaks again, he's not yelling any more. He sounds more sad than angry, really.

"I'm still alive, which means I gave in to him. How can I be a damn leader if I went on my knees for that fucker!" The anger rears his head again, and Vegeta roughly pushes Goku off him.

"How can I think of myself as a prince, when I know what I gave to that man!" Vegeta starts pulling on his hair, glaring at Goku. The man stares back, dumbfounded, until Vegeta groans and lets his hands drop by his sides.

"How the fuck did I live with myself..."

In the silence that follows, Goku has time to process all the information Vegeta just gave him. He remembers Bulma telling him about a metal plate she dug out of Vegeta's back after Namek, which is probably the chip Vegeta's talking about. But it must have been malfunctioning by then or something, since Vegeta fought against Frieza and got killed in the process.

And even earlier, when they first met, Vegeta was disobeying Frieza by coming to earth and looking for the dragonballs. He almost died back then too, now that Goku thinks about it. Actually, Vegeta pretty much always got seriously injured if he didn't die during a battle.

The rest of them got injured too, but Vegeta was the only one that kept flying back in until he couldn't move any more. He literally blew himself up to kill Buu. What if the reason for that was a bit more bleak than everyone thought? What if Vegeta chose to die trying, instead of trying to win and dying? Those thoughts are making Goku's head spin ,so he focuses back on the first thing he thought of.

"Did that chip still work on Namek? Because you were quite good at disobeying Frieza there." Vegeta huffs.

"I don't know, but it probably was. I still don't actually remember anything past the operation. And since all of the technology Frieza had worked pretty well, I doubt the chip would've burned out." Silence returns, until Vegeta shakes his head.

"I'm going to train, if you want to come, that'd be fine." With a small grin, Goku accepts the invitation, and the men start sparring.

* * *

After Goku left, Bulma went to her lab to do some research. She has a lot of facts about Vegeta, but she never bothered to find a link between them. She made a file about all of Vegeta's scars once, but a lot of them didn't look like the usual battle marks he has. Bulma never really bothered to research them before, but now she will.

When she's looking around her lab for the file, she sees that metal plate lying there, and she forgets about her plans. She tries to figure the thing out, and by the time she's interrupted by Trunks, she even build a remote for the chip. Bulma hasn't got a clue what the thing does though, so when Trunks comes in, she has a bright idea.

"hey Trunks! I need your help for a second." Trunks wanders over, wondering why his mother needs him in her lab.

"lay down on this table, and give me your hand."

Trunks does what his mother tells him to, and Bulma anchors his hand on a little elevated board. He recognises the metal plate that comes on top of his hand.

"What's this? Isn't that something of my dads?" Bulma grimaces, but nods.

"Yes it is. And I want to know what it does. Vegeta said something about mind control, so I made a sort of speaker to tell the chip what to do. Since it was inserted right next to his spinal chord, I don't have a lot of hopes that this will work, but I'm not gonna stick random thing in your body, so hopefully this will be enough."

Trunks nods, and waits for Bulma to finish setting everything up. When she's done, she looks questioningly at Trunks.

"I'm ready mom, throw some mind control my way." They grin at each other, and Bulma flips her remote on.

"Sit up." Bulma spoke into the remote, so Trunks doesn't move. Except for a tingling feeling in his hand, Trunks doesn't notice anything.

"hmm, stupid thing. Maybe I need to order you around. Sit up, Trunks!"

Trunks doesn't move again, hoping to trigger something in the chip. It works, although nobody is happy with it. Trunks jumps up, screaming bloody murder, and knocking down the installation. As soon as the chip is off, he stops screaming, and Bulma rushes over to check on him.

"Are you okay? I'm so sorry! I didn't know it would cause any pain! Are you hurt?" While Bulma is looking at the slight burn the chip left on Trunks' hand, Trunks tells her how it felt.

"It was like the thing was burning me up because I didn't listen to you. But it was only on my arm, so it wasn't all that bad, don't worry. I can see how father called it a mind-controlling device, I think I'd rather do what you say than feel that pain." He stays quiet for a moment, watching how Bulma bandages his hand.

"Wait... didn't you say dad had this chip right next to his spinal chord? Would that mean that he'd have felt it all over?" Bulma nods. She thought of that too, but she didn't want to say it out loud.

"That's cruel! Who would do that to someone!"

Bulma has already told the story about Frieza a lot of times, although she did censor it a bit, so the boy should be able to figure it out on his own. He does, eventually, and he says he's glad the freak's already dead.

"I'd have tortured him to death, to see if he liked it!" Bulma frowns at him.

"Don't talk like that, it makes you sound evil."

Before Trunks can blow up like his father always does, Bulma leaves the room. She decides to take a walk around the gardens, to ease her mind a bit. She should have stayed in the lab with Trunks, to stop him from finding the dragonball-radar.

Enraged saiyans, even half-breeds, are not to be messed with. Especially if they have access to a dragon. It's only after Trunks turns on the radar that he remembers the dragon isn't available for little shorter than a year. With a lot of cursing, Trunks leaves the matter alone. For now.

But he vows he'll make Frieza pay for his sins, a little more adequately than last time.


	5. betrayal

**New chappy! First time that I'm late a day :( **

**warnings: **talking about bad stuff, bad stuff that really happens, and some more bad stuff.

**last time: **Vegeta was being a bitch, and he ran off.

* * *

Vegeta really pushes himself during training that day. So much so, that him and Goku are too tired that evening to fly back to Bulma.

Not that Vegeta cares that much about it, he'd rather not see her for a while. Preferably not until he can actually remember the woman. The house in the clearing is good enough for his basic needs any way, so why bother to go and have an awkward moment when you don't really have to?

Vegeta gets his wish of not having to see Bulma soon, since his nightmares retain the remembering-quality. When he remembers something from the time he was already on earth, it doesn't bother him all that much, and Goku only has to badger him a short while before the man talks about it.

But when Vegeta dreams about his time with Frieza, he's the most unresponsive evil bastard you can imagine. After those nights, Goku is better off training on his own than coming near Vegeta.

After a few weeks, Vegeta seems to have opened up to Goku, since he goes straight to Goku after he wakes up.

"Goku! You didn't tell me how it actually felt to be a super saiyan! It's exhilarating! That feeling of power pulsing beneath my skin, it's addicting!" With a huge grin, Goku slaps Vegeta on the back.

"Would you rather have had me ruin the surprise?" Vegeta actually grins back up at him.

"No! It's intoxicating to remember the feeling, I can't wait until I can change back! Let's see if I can remember how I do it!"

Goku never really had a joyous Vegeta to train with, and it's an experience he won't soon forget. Usually Vegeta is dissing him during their training, and even though it's still a very useful training, it's not as fun as this.

A happy Vegeta acts as if training is just a game, clearly having fun. He's not as uptight as he usually is, getting mad at every hit Goku scores. It's as if Vegeta has accepted the fact that Goku is a better fighter than he is, and instead of being a grouch about it, he tries to learn as much as he can from Goku.

In a languid pace Goku drives up his power level, until somewhere around noon, Vegeta can transform on his own. Vegeta is overjoyed by finally getting it right, breaking out in genuine laughter when he gets a good look at himself.

Vegeta's good mood stays until he remembers his fight with majin Buu a few days later. He comes upon Goku in a daze, questioning him about things Goku didn't tell him. Goku never told anything past the moment Vegeta let Babidi take over, so Vegeta didn't know about his own sacrifice until he actually remembered it.

"Goku? Why didn't you tell me about my suicidal tendencies?" Goku doesn't know where he gets the idea, because he never really tried to harm himself.

"Oh, come on. I blew myself up to save the world. Almost every time I train, I go way over the line and get hurt. I always go into battle all by myself. How is that not self-destructive?"

When he puts it that way, Vegeta does have a point. It's just that Goku never thought of it that way, since every friend he has dies on a pretty frequent basis. It's like that's the norm for the Z-fighters. When he tells Vegeta that, Vegeta calls him a moron.

"And remember when I asked you if I was a bad father, and you said no? I'm not really a good example when I knock my son out, and then go into battle to die without saying anything to him. That was the only time I really hugged him too. How does that boy not have any trauma's?"

Vegeta's not really talking to Goku any more, he's mostly ranting to himself now. It makes Goku feel a bit uneasy, because he kind of does the same thing to his own sons. He didn't always have the time to say goodbye, so what if the boys have trauma's about him too?

There couldn't have been a more opportune moment for Trunks to show up. It's the first time he came to visit since the drugged-Vegeta-situation, and it's on the first day that Vegeta remembers some of his feelings for him. Trunks greets the duo with a soft voice, unsure of how Vegeta will react. He shouldn't have been worried, because Vegeta pulls him into a hug before he can even finish his first word.

"I'm sorry for what I said to you, boy, I really am. I'm going to try to be a better father now, so don't give up on me quite yet."

Trunks would have been overjoyed, if he wasn't so freaked out by Vegeta saying sorry. Without being told to, too. Trunks pats Vegeta on the back for a bit, before letting go of him and asking just what he remembers. Vegeta tells him about it, and when he's done, he grins wickedly at his son.

"Wanna spar?"

Trunks always loves training with his father, so he instantly agrees. He expects Vegeta wont be able to keep up when he transforms into super saiyan, so he gets the shock of his lifetime when Vegeta changes too.

"You did it! I'm so happy for you! Can you do all the transformations yet, or is it one step at a time?"

Vegeta tries it out, and frowns when it doesn't work. He mumbles something about stupid dragons and their whimsical wish-granting, before actually answering Trunks.

"I can't. How did I get their the first time around?"

Goku and Trunks try to tell him to the best of their abilities, but that evening isn't enough for Vegeta to reach the next level. Vegeta grumpily says goodbye to Trunks before retiring to his room. Before Trunks leaves though, he has a word with Goku.

"Is it hard for you to stay here with Vegeta? I know you guys aren't good friends at the best of times, let alone when my dad is grumpy."

"Nah, It's okay. Vegeta does have his bitch-days, but they've been coming in less and less. This is actually the most fun I've had in years."

Trunks doesn't know if that is supposed to be a joke or not, but when you think about Chichi, it's probably the plain truth. Chichi isn't a good thing to think about, so Trunks changes the subject.

"Goten wants to see you, is it okay if we come by tomorrow?" Goku nervously scratches the back of his head.

"Come by in the afternoon, okay? Should Vegeta be in a bad mood, you won't have spent an entire day here for nothing."

Trunks want to say something like 'I thought you said he didn't have a lot of bitch-days any more, so why are you asking me that like you're expecting him to be grumpy?' but he decides to drop it and go home. Bulma will probably be getting worried anyway. Why she would be worried is a mystery for Trunks, but he still doesn't want her to be.

That night Vegeta has another remembered nightmare. This time, it's about Radditz' hero-complex concerning him. Though Vegeta could remember what he said to Radditz after Goten did his little speech, he couldn't remember why or even when. Now he does, and it makes him that much angrier at Goten.

* * *

The dream starts with Vegeta getting out of a recovery-room, after one of Frieza's 'bonding' sessions. Vegeta doesn't know what happened exactly, but the bonding probably had nothing to do with him. At least not in a beneficial way, or he wouldn't have been in a recovery-room at all.

Radditz is outside the room, waiting for him to come out. How Radditz knew where he was, Vegeta can only guess. He doesn't like to tell people about his late-night missions for Frieza, or where he can be found after them, but Radditz must've noticed something.

He is, after all, Vegeta's main guard for a reason. As if Vegeta needs to be guarded by brute force any way. Not that Radditz doesn't have any brute force, it's just not his main asset. As soon as Vegeta is out of the room, Radditz pulls him along by his arm.

"What are you doing! Is this a way to treat your prince!" Radditz looks at him with a cold glare, and he doesn't react to him until they are in their private quarters.

"I'm not the one that doesn't treat you like a prince. This is perfectly acceptable behaviour if my prince decides to act like a low class brat." Vegeta can pull his arm loose, and he yells at the man.

"What are you talking about, moron! I didn't do anything." Radditz crosses his arms, still glaring at his prince.

"That's the point. You didn't do anything to stop them. I heard Dodoria and Zarbon talking about you this morning. From what I heard, you haven't been acting like a prince for at least 3 years. So I'm going to make you act like one."

All the blood drains out of Vegeta's skin. Nobody was supposed to find out. Especially not Radditz.

"Grab your things, I hijacked a space-shuttle to bring you to a safe planet." Vegeta's eyes widen at that.

"What? You're making me run away? How is that royal!" Radditz starts collecting Vegeta's belongings and throwing them in a bag.

"It's more royal than acting like Frieza's pet, that's for sure." Vegeta pulls Radditz away from what he's doing, pushing him against the door in the process.

"Why are you interfering! It has always been like this, and it worked just fine! None of the other saiyans will get hurt as long as I do what I do, so why do you want to stop me!" Radditz pulls Vegeta's hands off of him, and keeps them locked in his hands.

"It didn't work just fine, Vegeta. You're no longer the carefree person you used to be." With a growl, Vegeta pulls his hands free.

"That's called growing up!" Radditz growls right back at him, and tackles him to the ground. Vegeta was trying to open the door to kick him out, so Radditz had to stop him.

"That's called getting screwed in the head! Look Vegeta, lets leave this place, just the two of us. Nappa doesn't deserve your protection, and the rest of the saiyans aren't under Frieza's reign. There's no need for you to stay here and lose your mind."

It's clear that Vegeta would like to leave it all behind, but something is holding him back. In a sign of trust, Vegeta tells Radditz what it is.

"But I can't! He knows where my little brother went, and I can't let him be the victim of my selfishness. It's useless any way, Frieza can track that freaking chip anywhere."

Apparently, Radditz didn't know any of those things. If Vegeta is chipped, then the entire ordeal he overheard makes a whole lot more sense. Radditz doesn't know if this makes it worse or not, because if the prince chose his behaviour, at least he would probably have had a valid reason.

Now his only reason is that he can't take the pain. That's got to be detrimental for his self-confidence. Radditz does have his doubts about Frieza knowing where Tarble is though. As Radditz sees it, all of Vegeta's problems will be solved by Frieza's death, but how to get him to die?

"You should leave, Radditz."

"Like hell I'll leave you here on your own." With a glare, Vegeta goes into royalty mode.

"You _will_ leave this spaceship and you _wont_ come back to save me." Radditz doesn't look like he's going to listen, so Vegeta adds a bit more to his command.

"You're going on a mission to earth, to find out why the saiyan there refuses to conquer that planet. Make sure you don't return." With that, Vegeta can finally push past Radditz to the hallway, and at the same time, wake up.

* * *

It takes Vegeta only a second to come to the decision to question Goku after he's fully awake. Goten's naivety isn't all that important compared to Radditz' fate. Vegeta believes that Goten has seen the biggest flaws in his beliefs already, what with his ordeal with Chichi.

The small things Goten doesn't understand yet, aren't that big a deal for as long as Vegeta doesn't know what happened to Radditz. To find out what happened to him, Vegeta needs to talk to Goku. He finds Goku outside, tickling for fish. Without bothering with any niceties, Vegeta comes straight to the point.

"Goku, did you ever meet Radditz?" Goku almost falls into the river out of surprise, but he can save himself just in time. Goku laughs off his stumble, and turns to Vegeta.

"Not even a good-morning?" Vegeta glares at him.

"No. Did Radditz come to earth?"

Goku had hoped he wouldn't have to tell Vegeta this, and that he would remember it on his own. Now he's in for a really big shouting match, if he's lucky enough for Vegeta not to physically attack him.

From the stories Vegeta has been telling, it's obvious that Radditz was like a big brother to him, even his best friend. Goku fears that as soon as Vegeta knows he's the cause of the man's death, their friendship will be over. He has to tell him now though, there's no way out of it.

"Yeah, he came to Earth for some reason I didn't really understand." Goku was planning to continue, but Vegeta interrupts him.

"Did he tell you?"

"Yes"

"Did he find the answer?" Goku looks at the ground.

"I don't think so..." Vegeta frowns at him, starting to realise there's something that Goku's not saying.

"What is it, Goku?" Goku cringes, but he finally tells Vegeta.

"I... uh... Radditz died..." Vegeta has always been competent in hiding his true feelings behind anger, so even though the knowledge hurts him, he gets angry at Goku.

"How?" Goku looks up at Vegeta, and that look makes it superfluous for Goku to say anything.

Vegeta remembers the whole ordeal with that one look. How Goku and Piccolo worked together to kill Radditz, and how he came to earth to take his revenge. Vegeta always said it was to gain immortality, but why live forever under Frieza's reign?

It's a silly idea, but everybody seems to buy it well enough, so Vegeta kept using that excuse. It's not like he ever told anyone about his real plans anyway, so why would anyone believe his reasons to be untrue?

Vegeta's life starts flashing before his eyes; all the times Radditz took care of him, when he stood up for him, their fight that ultimately resulted in Radditz' coming to earth and dying. By the hand of Kakarot, the man Vegeta thought to be his friend.

Kakarot was trying to be good to him, these past months, and Vegeta thought it was nice. Vegeta doesn't think that any more, he sees it as betrayal now. Kakarot knew this would hurt him, yet he hid it away. Friends don't do that about important things.

All the while Vegeta is remembering his past, he's powering up. This time he does notice how he changes to level 2, but he can't be bothered to feel happy about it.

Because of Vegeta's plainly visible rage, Goku has the sense of self to power up too, resulting in the forest starting to slowly disintegrate by the pure force of the two saiyans.

All that power grabs the attention of the rest of the Z-fighters, and they hurry to check it out. Goku and Vegeta are in a remote place though, so it will take the fighters a while to get there.

Goku knows this, and he also knows that if Vegeta goes to level 3, he probably wont be able to stop him from destroying pretty much everything. In an attempt to calm Vegeta down, Goku tries to talk to him.

"Vegeta, please try to understand! I was protecting my home!"

Goku thought that that would get Vegeta to talk and not fight, but he was terribly wrong. With a low grumble, Vegeta flies at Goku, momentarily stopping his rising in power. Goku turns with Vegeta as he flies at him, grabbing his arm to try and use his own strength against him.

Vegeta expected that, so he flows with Goku's movement too, resulting in a kick to the face for Goku. The force of the kick drops Goku, and Vegeta uses this opportunity to grapple him.

"You could've protected the earth by giving him the dragonballs. Why did you kill him!" Goku struggles against the grip Vegeta has on him, but he fails to get out of the hold.

"I didn't have a choice! He kidnapped Gohan!" Goku has really mastered the art of saying the wrong thing to Vegeta, because he seems to anger him more with everything he says. With a yell, Vegeta punches Goku with all his power.

"You did have a choice, Kakarot! You decided killing your own brother was better than simply giving him what he wanted!"

Goku doesn't take well to feeling helpless, so he goes to level 3. The power that releases catapults Vegeta away from him, making him crash into their house. The simple structure crumbles around him, and for a minute, Goku thinks he knocked Vegeta out.

That is until Vegeta goes level 3 with a roar, and the rubble explodes away from him. Goku flies at him this time, and they start fighting in earnest.

When the first Z-fighters finally arrive, the saiyans have destroyed everything in the vicinity, and they are looking pretty beaten up. Piccolo pushes Trunks behind one of the few remaining rocks, sensing the danger in the air. Trunks grumbles about it, saying his father wouldn't hurt him.

Piccolo takes some time to react to him, preoccupied by listening to the saiyans' shouted conversation. Although they are too far away for Trunks to understand them, Piccolo can easily make out their words in between the sound of explosions.

"Trunks, They aren't sparring. They're trying to kill each other. Your father doesn't have the time to think about protecting you." Trunks understands what he's talking about when he takes a good look at his father.

"Dad got to level 3... We should stop them, or they'll destroy..." Piccolo interrupts Trunks with a sneer.

"I know that! But do you want to jump between a super saiyan 3 and his prey?" Trunks swallows heavily, shaking his head.

"Didn't think so. We're going to wait for the opportune moment before interfering, lets just hope they don't finish before there is such a moment."

Trunks hides behind the rock, and he's soon joined by an overwrought Goten. He explains what Piccolo said to him, and the boys cautiously look over the rock. They are still going at it, and the more the battle progresses, the more violent Vegeta becomes.

Goku doesn't seem to want to hurt Vegeta, but you can't fight a battle with him when you're on the defensive. He fires a powerful kamehameha at Vegeta, but it's blocked by an equally as powerful final flash.

Goku is getting tired afetr that, and he's too slow to evade Vegeta's ki-rings. They strap him to the ground as Vegeta starts to call up another final flash. Piccolo can't let Goku die like this, so he makes Vegeta notice him.

"Vegeta! Stop this!" Vegeta doesn't stop calling up his energy, but he does change targets.

"You're to blame too, green man!"

If Piccolo wasn't scared of the final flash now heading straight for his head, he'd have laughed at Vegeta's choice of nickname for him. Vegeta is smirking at Piccolo, thinking he's going to finish him off. His smirk disappears when he notices Trunks jumping from behind a rock next to Piccolo.

Vegeta tries with all his might to divert the beam from his designated path, but he can't stop the beam from hitting his own son along with Piccolo. As soon as the beam is gone, Vegeta flies towards them, letting go of his super saiyan-form.

Piccolo charges a ki-blast in his remaining hand, ready to throw it at Vegeta should he do something, but he lets it dissolve when Vegeta falls to his knees next to Trunks.

Piccolo's left arm got blasted off, but he can regenerate it. Trunks is not so fortunate; his entire right side is burned to a crisp. The boy is having trouble with breathing, and he's gasping for air. Vegeta doesn't dare to touch him, too scared of hurting him to even try.

Goten didn't get hurt in the blast, since Trunks pushed him to safety when he saw it coming. Goten's too shell shocked about the entire ordeal to even think properly though.

Since Vegeta is so focused on Trunks, his ki-rings dissolve, letting Goku out of their trap. As soon as he's out, Goku joins the group near Trunks. Seeing tears welling up in Vegeta's eyes make him feel sorry for the man, and he softly puts a hand on Vegeta's shoulder. Vegeta shrugs it off with a low growl.

"Don't touch me, Kakarot."

Vegeta frowns in thought. He wants to save Trunks, but he's too hurt for a hospital to fix him properly. The dragonballs are out of commission, and Vegeta will not let Trunks be dead for 6 months. Then he has an idea that might save Trunks before it is too late. As gently as he possibly can, Vegeta picks up Trunks.

"Kakarot! Take us to Namek!"

Trunks starts coughing really badly, but Goku doesn't move. Vegeta is getting scared that he actually killed his son, and he wont be able to live with that. The fear is stopping him from controlling his emotions like he usually does, and it's making Vegeta yell at Goku a bit hysterical.

"Kakarot! NOW!"

That jolts Goku into action, and the trio disappears.


	6. intermission

**This is a pretty lame chapter, just filling up the time between the previous and the last chapter. Yes, I think the next chapter is the last. It's how I planned it at least. It's about time too, because I'm getting bored of the story. (as is apparent since I keep missing my deadline -_-)**

**warning: **Not much happens, except some bad words and a ardbz reference. (what can I say, ardbz is awesome, I couldn't resist)

**last time:** Trunks got hurt! Bad Vegeta!

* * *

It's a warm, sunny day on Namek, and all the inhabitants are free to be their overly happy selves. There is no discontent whatsoever on this planet, the only time they're ever unhappy is when there's a huge threat to their planet. Like when Frieza came by.

But even then they're not as emotional as normal human beings, since they can always wish their planet back. Namekians are used to their monotonous days, so they're a bit shaken up when 3 badly wounded saiyans appear out of nowhere.

They're just surprised, mind you, not scared or anything like that. The elder immediately recognizes Goku from all the good things he has done for Namek, so he calls his healers out. Vegeta protests against the healer that wants to help him.

"Forget about me, save the boy!" The healer winces at the sight of Trunks.

"I don't think he has much longer, sir..." Vegeta sneers at him, gently putting Trunks on the makeshift bed they provide for him on the ground.

"I know that! Just keep him alive until I get all the dragonballs."

The healer flinches at the command in Vegeta's voice, apprehensive of failing the prince. The boy is dying, and the healer doesn't know if his skills will be enough to even keep him alive for that time. He's comforted by Goku.

"We'll be quick about the gathering, so just try your best." What the healer didn't dare to say to Vegeta, comes out naturally when facing Goku.

"If you're going to use the dragonballs to heal the boy, then it would be more humane to let him die for the time being. He's in a lot of pain, and..." The man is forced to stop talking by Vegeta roughly grabbing his neck.

"Pain is better than death, believe me. If you let the boy die, I'll make you experience death first hand, understand?"

The healer makes an agreeable sound, since he's unable to do anything else, and Vegeta releases him. Then he turns to Goku.

"And there is no 'we', Kakarot. You're going to collect some of the balls _for_ me, not _with _me. I still hate your guts."

Without a second glance, Vegeta takes off on his search, leaving a heartbroken Goku behind. The only person present to say anything about what has just transpired, is a random bystander, and he only mumbles 'harsh' before continuing with what he was doing.

Goku hears it though, and it snaps him out of his daze. Goku takes off in the opposite direction of Vegeta, to help his friend in his quest.

It only takes the saiyans half an hour to collect all of the dragonballs, and that's almost too long. The healers are having trouble with keeping Trunks' breathing up, so they're relieved when the elder can summon the dragon.

Vegeta is the one to bring in the last dragonball, and he's anxious to get started. He's getting agitated by the looks Goku has been giving him since they arrived on Namek, and the sooner Trunks is healed, the sooner Goku will get out of his sight.

Vegeta tried to get Goku to leave Namek already, but the man refuses to leave without him and Trunks. It makes for a very nervous group of namekians, hurrying to summon the dragon.

Although Vegeta can remember the dragon, he's not prepared for the majestic wind that whips up. He's starting to think that there's something wrong with his memories, since they don't have the same impact on him as real memories do.

Like with his memory of changing to super saiyan in the past; he can remember doing it, but he couldn't get the swing of it for a long time.

If he remembers correctly, the dragon of Namek grants 3 wishes, so maybe he can wish for his memories. Vegeta discards the thought, since Trunks is more important.

What if he can't deal with all the memories at once and faints? He can't risk that chance, Trunks will need him. The sight of the dragon shocks Vegeta out of his musing. It's gigantic!

The elder speaks to the dragon in his own language, so Vegeta doesn't get a lot of warning before Trunks is enveloped in a bright light. The light seems to lift up Trunks about 3 metres into the air, giving everyone a clear view of how his wounds repair themselves.

When all the blood is gone, the light starts to dim, and Trunks starts to fall. Vegeta rushes over to the boy, to catch him before he hits the ground.

Trunks is still unconscious, but it's nothing that a few light slaps on his cheek can't fix. Trunks groggily opens his eyes, and after a short stare at Vegeta, he starts looking around.

"Where are we? And what happened?" Vegeta smiles in relief. Trunks will be all right.

"We're on Namek, because you were pretty badly wounded." Trunks frowns at that.

"Yeah... You didn't stop your attack when I got in the way..." It takes some time for the knowledge to really sink in with Trunks, and while he's busy doing that, Goku comes nearer.

"Hey Vegeta, the dragon has 2 more wishes, do you have anything you want?" Vegeta glares at Goku for interrupting.

"I don't know, Kakarot. Wish for ice-cream with sprinkles for all I care." T

he saiyans are locked in a small stare-down, until Vegeta is distracted by a hand on his elbow. He had put Trunks on the ground, to check him over before, and now the boy is using Vegeta as a means to get up.

"Why didn't you stop?" Vegeta helps Trunks stand up, and he uses that time to calm his agitation. He's still pissed at Kakarot for everything, and the boy is asking stupid questions.

"I couldn't. Once the beam is fired, it's impossible to change the course." Trunks pushes Vegeta away from him once he can stand on his own.

"Why did you fire at Piccolo anyway? He didn't do anything wrong!" Vegeta narrows his eyes, and he really has to fight to keep his anger from coming out.

"He did do something wrong, brat, you just don't know what he did!"

"Then enlighten me!"

"It's none of your business!"

While father and son are having a shouting match, Goku slinks away. He goes to the elder, who's still waiting for their other 2 wishes.

"could you ask the dragon if he could resurrect Radditz?"

The elder asks the dragon, and they have an entire conversation in their own language. Guessing it's not possible, Goku turns around to watch the others still yelling at each other. He missed a part of the 'conversation', but they're obviously still talking about their fight.

"Goku was protecting the earth, you can't blame him for getting rid of a violent psychopath!"

"What do you know about what happened back then! Kakarot didn't give Radditz a choice!"

"His name is Goku, and Radditz could've just left instead of fighting!" Vegeta deflates, and he isn't yelling when he answers. He speaks in a cold, dead voice.

"He couldn't, I told him not to. And I don't care what that bastards name is, I'll call him whatever I want."

Trunks can't bring up the energy required to keep talking to his father, so he sighs and looks over at Goku. When Trunks sees him staring back at him, he turns away with a scowl. Goku was looking at him with sorrowful eyes, as if he felt bad about what he had done.

It makes Trunks feel as if he did something wrong when choosing Goku's side. When Trunks turned around, he effectively put his back to Vegeta too. The sight hurts Vegeta, and he closes his eyes for a second.

"Trunks... I'm sorry. This is why I didn't want to stay at Bulma's house. I'm starting to remember things, and I just lost it today."

The only reaction Trunks shows, is lowering his head a bit. With a sigh, Vegeta looks up at the sky, and notices that the dragon is gone. He glances at Goku, fully expecting to see him holding an ice-cream with sprinkles. Goku isn't though, he's talking to a man that Vegeta immediately recognises.

"Radditz?" The man startles, and turns around.

"Vegeta!"

Radditz grins and starts towards Vegeta. Vegeta throws a glance at Goku, not believing that Radditz is really here. Goku smiles at him with his hands in his pockets. Vegeta almost smiles back, but he can stop himself. Instead, he glowers at him.

"This doesn't mean I forgive you, Kakarot." Vegeta doesn't see the smile fading away, since Radditz pulls him into a bone-crushing hug. Vegeta lets him do that for a while, before he struggles out of his grasp.

"Stop it, man, my son is watching." Radditz eyebrows disappear into his hair. He looks at Trunks, who is indeed staring at Vegeta with big eyes.

"What? It was a very manly hug between long lost friends. You aren't telling me there's something wrong with a man-hug, right Vegeta?" Radditz says this all in a fake sweet voice, grinning all the while. Vegeta glares at him and softly hits his head.

"Show some respect, will you. I'm still the prince."

"Aren't you technically the king now? You're old enough for it now right?" Vegeta huffs in response.

"Although, being a king of a grand total of 4 people isn't all that big a deal."

Vegeta and Radditz continue with their - kind of - friendly jesting under the watchful eye of Trunks. Seeing his father like he used to be just makes him more angry at Frieza.

He should be talking like that with his father, but he never could because Frieza destroyed this side of Vegeta. He would've started planning his revenge, if it wasn't for Vegeta calling him over.

"Trunks, come over here, I want you to meet Radditz." Radditz starts laughing uncontrollably.

"You called your son Trunks? That's a very royal name, I must say." Vegeta glowers at him.

"Shut up or I'll demote you." That just makes Radditz laugh harder.

"You'll demote me to what, exactly? 4th in command? That's more like a promotion, really."

Trunks feels obliged to laugh along nervously. It's uncanny how close the two seem, even if they haven't seen each other for so long. Luckily for Trunks, the two saiyans include him in the rest of their conversation. After 5 minutes of talking with Radditz, Trunks is having fun already, so he's quite annoyed when Goku interrupts.

"Hey, guys? I think it's time for us to go back to earth. The others will probably be worried... by... now..."

Goku was nervous when he came up to them, but he trails off when Radditz body language completely changes. Radditz was pretty laid back when he was talking to Vegeta and Trunks, but as soon as Goku got into the picture, he stiffened up.

He's standing behind Vegeta's right-hand shoulder, arms crossed, staring down at Goku with narrowed eyes. Radditz has effectively given Vegeta all the authority, just by taking a step back and shutting his mouth.

It's amazing how such a simple act can mean as much to Vegeta as it does. Vegeta may have shown his leader side before, but with Radditz behind his back, he simply radiates royalty.

"I'm not coming." Vegeta glances at Trunks, before continuing in a softer voice.

"I'm staying here. I don't want to deal with you or any of the other idiots on the planet." Goku is a bit dejected, but it's nothing compared to how Trunks is feeling.

"But dad... What about me? And mom? Are you just going to leave us on our own?" Vegeta snorts, and ruffles Trunks' hair.

"I didn't say anything about not coming back. I'm just not coming right now, brat." Vegeta and Radditz say goodbye to Trunks, half ignoring Goku, until he puts a hand on Trunks shoulder to teleport away.

"Kakarot! Ask Bulma for some kind of communication device, and bring it here."

Vegeta could have been a lot nicer, but he refuses to be. With a downcast look about him, Goku nods. It makes Radditz snort at him.

"Really, stand up for yourself a bit, little brother. You're a saiyan, so don't simply give in. It's weird."

Goku doesn't know what to say, so he pretends he doesn't hear and just disappears. After a little while of staring at the place Goku was just standing, Vegeta turns to Radditz. He was way too nice to Kakarot in Vegeta's opinion.

"What was that?" Radditz rolls his eyes.

"He killed me, and he resurrected me. It evens each other out, for me."

"Don't you want revenge?"

The blank look on Radditz face says it all. Radditz did leave Kakarot with no other choice, really. And Kakarot beat him fair and square... sort of... The Namek dude, though, still has something coming his way, if Radditz has anything to say about it.

But since that guy isn't here, Radditz doesn't say anything. With a say, Vegeta turns to the mountains in the distance. If he can remember correctly, there's a nice little cave somewhere over there.

"Never mind. I'm going to sleep."

* * *

The day after that, Goku drops of the communication device that Vegeta asked for. It's the last time he sees Vegeta for a long time, because the man literally yelled him off the planet. Goku would rather not face him again, even if he is worried about the prince.

Bulma and Trunks tell him about what Vegeta's doing, but Goku doesn't see them a lot either. He's been renovating the clearing he always stayed at with Vegeta: replanting the trees, levelling the ground, digging the river again.

It's a self-induced exile Goku put himself in, and nobody seems to care enough to get him out of it. Gohan is working, and Goten has school, but you'd expect Piccolo or Bulma to check up on him right? They don't.

The only time Goku sees them, is when he goes out to visit them. At first, Goku tried to go to them every few days, but it made everyone uncomfortable. So, over the span of 7 months, Goku slowly stopped going.

It has been over 4 weeks since he last saw any of the Z-fighters, so Goku is quite surprised when he can sense Piccolo's ki-signature coming closer. He puts down his shovel -Goku was digging out a lake, to have something to do- and waits for Piccolo to arrive. Piccolo doesn't wait with getting straight to the point.

"Vegeta wants to come back to earth, and he wants you to teleport him." Goku looks blankly at Piccolo.

"Are you serious? Vegeta asked for me to take him?" Piccolo agrees with Goku's dumbfounded demeanour.

"Yes. He asked for you." A short laugh escapes Goku, before he takes up his shovel again.

"Well, you can tell him to go screw himself and find another means of transportation." Piccolo groans mentally at the prospect of that conversation.

"Can't you just do it, so the guy stops being a pain in the ass?" Goku huffs, and continues on his lake.

"The guy is not a pain in the ass if he's on a different planet. So let him stay there."

Piccolo watches as Goku takes out his irritation on the ground. It's a bit disturbing to see Goku like this, especially since it's partly his fault. Dreading a talk about emotions, but feeling obliged to it any way, Piccolo approaches Goku.

"Are you okay, Goku?" Without looking up, Goku answers.

"I'm just peachy." He might say that, but he sounds pretty frustrated.

"Want to spar, or something?" The shovel shatters in Goku's hands, as he stares at Piccolo coldly.

"I do not. Now go away, and stop bothering me."

Seeing a lost cause when there is one, Piccolo takes off to Bulma. Who would have guessed that Vegeta was the one holding Goku together?

* * *

"He said WHAT!"

Bulma's hair whips around with the force of Vegeta's yell. Even though they're only speaking through a monitor, Bulma cringes away from his fury. Piccolo broke the news to him, and Vegeta doesn't find it funny.

"That third rate idiot is leaving me stranded on a different planet? How can he do that! What happened to his good for nothing morals?" Bulma tries to appease him as best as she can.

"Don't worry, we can just gather the dragonballs to wish you here. They should have regenerated by now." Ignoring the rest of Vegeta's tantrum, Bulma starts looking for her scanner.

"That's weird, I could have sworn I left the radar in this drawer..." Vegeta heard that, and now he starts yelling obscenities at her for losing the radar. He's stopped by Radditz.

"Calm down, Vegeta, she didn't do it on purpose."

Vegeta makes Radditz his new target, and Piccolo has to chuckle at what he sees. He might not like Vegeta, but when he sees the prince interact with Radditz, he just has to laugh. This is only the second time Piccolo sees Radditz after he got wished back, but last time went exactly like this.

Vegeta got mad at Bulma for not letting Trunks train enough in his eyes, and Radditz jumped in back then too. The man knows exactly what to do to get Vegeta under control, and Vegeta detests the fact.

It always results in a shouting match between the saiyans, until Vegeta backs down and tells Radditz to cut his hair. There must be some saiyan-habit that involves a haircut, because Radditz always shuts up after that. Eventually, Bulma gives up, and moves back to the monitor.

"Somebody took my radar, because it isn't here. I'll ask Trunks about it later." Vegeta huffs in response, keeping his eyes on Piccolo. The man is frowning for no apparent reason, and his staring through a window.

"What are you staring at, Namek!" Without looking at the monitor, Piccolo answers.

"I just sensed a strange ki appearing..."

Some 20 kilometres south, Goku looks to sky too. "I know that ki... But that's impossible..."

As Goku lifts to the sky, Piccolo leaves the lab to check out the ki. He too remembers who that ki belongs to, but he doesn't believe it either. Bulma hangs up on Vegeta, with the promise to call him back when she knows more. It pisses Vegeta off to no end.

* * *

**AN: **over 20.000 words! and that's not counting all the authors' notes I put in there ^^ I've written 22 pages in under 2 weeks, I believe I can feel proud ^^


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